SOTU Marks Amnesty Mobilization

Among the raza gang, excitement seems to be building over the President’s State of the Union speech that comprehensive amnesty will be a major policy point. But whatever Obama precious utterances, open-borders enthusiasts intend to mount a massive mobilization against US sovereignty.

All the chatter about a “path to citizenship” is designed as a distraction, and is working so far.

Like the other failed amnesty of 1986, the current version promises enforcement in return for a trough of goodies for illegals. But Obama has already ended border security according to recent Congressional testimony[8] and cannot be trusted to require even rudimentary policing.

Back to the SOTU amnesty mobilization. Notice the emphasis on citizenship — unlike the illegal aliens themselves, the raza elites want them as voters to gain political power. (One example: of the 5.4 million legal Mexican immigrants, only 36 percent of the eligible have become naturalized[13], much lower than other groups.)

A pathway to citizenship will be at the forefront of several mobilization efforts being launched in the coming months as the president and Congress engage in moving forward on immigration reform.

Days before the president is expected to deliver his State of the Union (SOTU) speech, supporters for immigration reform have already begun announcing their campaigns. The administration took steps this week to assure the community they’re committed in ensuring the 11 million persons who are undocumented that there will be immigration reform.

“We expect him to lay out a range of priorities including immigration reform,” said Frank Sharry of America’s Voice during a conference call in expectation of SOTU.

“Sometimes, in the past we breathlessly counted the number of words and where it was in his speech—to be honest the fact that he went to Las Vegas and threw down the way he did has really mobilized and motivated many of us in the immigration reform movement.”

Said Sharry, “He has already proved that this is going to be his top legislative priority for the first six months of this year.”

President Obama met with business leaders and immigration reform advocates
The president met with business leaders, labor unions and immigration reform advocates earlier this week at the White House to bolster support. The Obama administration indicated that the president would like to see immigration legislation in the next four to six weeks, according to the AP. After the meeting, several groups including the AFL-CIO, one of the largest labor unions, Casa de Maryland, and Center for Community Change have indicated that they will be involved in a nationwide lobbying effort that would take place in a dozen of cities.

The president met with 16 leaders of immigration advocacy groups on Tuesday.

“We are excited that the momentum launched at hyper-speed in November’s election is producing concrete movement. But requiring families to wait, as the Senate would have it, for the full implementation of E-Verify and militarization of the US border with unmanned drones is unfair and not acceptable,” said Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland, in a statement.
“First indications from the House are even worse with Tuesday’s enforcement-dominated hearing. This is why we need the President to lead.”

Some of the advocates contend that they will spotlight a pathway to citizenship as a priority, particularly in light of hesitancy from some Republicans to find a middle ground on citizenship. Groups such as America’s Voice signaled that they are hoping to lobby in order to get legislation passed by the end of July.

AFL-CIO officially launched its campaign to pursue a full pathway to citizenship
AFL-CIO officially launched its campaign to pursue a full pathway to citizenship on Thursday. The campaign will be spotlighted in events across 14 cities with the first kicking off next week on Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina. The other cities include Las Vegas, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Anaheim, Calif., San Francisco, Miami, St. Paul, Minn., Phoenix, New York City and Chicago.

“What we are fighting for is the ability not for the government to close the doors to citizenship, but for you to be treated like everyone else today,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). “I came to this country undocumented, I became a legal permanent resident, and then I made a choice and my choice was I want to become a citizen.”

“And when I became a citizen, I had more voting power, I had a whole bunch of rights and those rights can’t be negated to a whole population and so that’s what we’re fighting for,” she added.

Among rising concerns for immigration reform supporters who want a pathway for citizenship are the costs and English language requirements. The Pew Research Hispanic Center noted that nearly two-thirds of the 5.4 million immigrants from Mexico who are eligible to become citizens of the United States have not yet taken that step.

Pathway to citizenship a hurdle
A pathway to citizenship is considered one of the most contentious elements that will be addressed this year in Congress, but that hasn’t stopped supporters from signaling that they’re bracing for a “heavy lift.” On April 10, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will hold a major rally near the U.S. Capitol, while smaller events will be held across the country the same day.

The business community will also be hosting panels starting on Wednesday along with advocates of the faith and law enforcement community. The event will host Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, in support of immigration reform.

While efforts are expected to boost further momentum after SOTU, some analysts such as Sharry were quick to indicate that he doesn’t expect the president to elaborate on immigration reform in this upcoming speech. In the past speeches, the president has used his words cautiously and sparingly reflecting a tone that mirrored the present environment in Congress in light of immigration reform.

In 2010, the president spoke of the need to continue to fix the broken immigration system and securing the border, while in 2012 he spoke more directly on behalf of the Dreamers.

“It’s going to be not as extensive as Las Vegas because he’s going to cover a range of topics,” said Sharry.

“For a lot of us, the question was whether the post-election mandate for immigration reform was really translated to momentum and I think given the events of last week and the coming week, the answer seems to be a loud yes.”